Hydrant.



G. W. JOHNSTON.

HYDRANT.

APPLICATION 21mm JULY 22, 1908.

Patented July 20, 1909.

'LVVENTOR.

ATTORNEYJ,

n B GRAHAM ca. womumuclunui, WABHI mvrrnn srar ns PATENT orrron GEORGEW. JOHNSTON, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO CHAPMAN VALVEMANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF INDIAN ORCHARD, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATIONOF MASSACHUSETTS.

HYDRANT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J 'uly 20, 1909.

Application filed July 22, 1908. Serial No. 444,701.-

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. J OHNSTON, a citizen of the United Statesof America, residing at Springfield, in the county of Hampden and Stateof Massachusetts, have invented certa'in new and useful Improvements inHydrants, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in valves of the inside-screwvariety, in which provision is made for imparting to the valve spindle alimited amount of longitudinal movement without, however, taking away asthe chief factor in opening and closing the valve proper the meanswhereby said valve is operated by therotary motion of said spindle afterthe manner of inside-screw valves, with the result that the spindle isconverted into an indicator which shows the position of the valve and,what is of far greater importance, has a secure connection at the baseeX- cept when the valve is wide open, the invention being particularlydesigned for and adapted to fire-plugs or hydrants.

It frequently happens that hydrants are broken off above the ground byheavy wagons and automobiles, when with the old construction theirvalves are released and immediately open, and that in consequence ofsuch accidents large volumes of water run to waste and sometimes do muchdamage to adjacent property before the water can be shut off back ofsaid valves, thus there is always the loss of the water to take intoaccount and there may be in addition the damage just mentioned, and theprimary object of my invention is to produce a hydrant in which thevalve will remain closed regardless of. any injury which the exposedpart of such hydrant may sustain, provided the valve be closed at thetime the accident occurs.

A further object of my invention is to utilize the valve spindle as anindicator of the position of the valve, the ordinary insidescrewconstruction not permitting this to be done.

Other objects will appear during the course of the followingdescription, and it will be seen that the improved construction issimple, is readily adaptable to the ty e of valve for which it isintended, and won d increase the strength, durability, practicabilityand efficiency of such type even in the absence of the new features ofspecial and peculiar usefulness.

I attain the objects and secure the advantages of my invention by themeans illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is asectional view of a hydrant embodying my invention, showing the valveclosed, and Fig.2, a similar view showing said valve open. Parts of thecasing and of the valve spindle are broken out in these views in orderto economize space.

Similar fi 'ures refer to similar parts throughout t 1e views.

The casing of the hydrant illustrated in the drawings consists of a basepiece 7 in which is the inlet 8, asuperimposed connection 9 which variesin length to adapt the hydrant to different localities, a superimposedbody 10 in which is one or more outets 11, and a superimposed ca 12,allbolted together in the usual and wel -known manner. Suitablysupported within the cap 12 is a centrally perforated, diaphragmal plate13 which forms a bearing and guide for a valve spindle 14. The hub-likecenter of the plate 13 receives an internally screwthreaded bushing 15with which a screwthreaded part 16 of the spindle 14 engages. Astuffing-box 17 for the spindle 14 is screwed into the plate 13 abovethe bushing 15, and a follower 18 is screwedontothe top of suchstuffing-box. Rigidly attached to thetop of the spindle 14 is a nut 19which receives the wrench used'to turn said spindle. The nut 19 rojectsthrough an opening in the top of tlecap- 12, and said nut has a body 20which extends into said cap when the spindle is inwardly disposed; Ascale, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, is marked on the body 20, there beingsiX graduations in the present instance, numbered from above downwardfrom 1 to 6. A coupling 21 connects the two rods which together make upthe spindle 14.. Below the coupling 21 less the spindle isscrewethreaded at 22, and more screw-threads appear'on said spindle at23, these last being at the lower terminal. The screw-threads 22 areinuch'coarser than the screw-threads 16 and 23 which are alike, theratio being in this case about four of the fine, threads to one of thecoarse threads. The fine threads form ri ht-hand screws and the coarsethreads for a eft-hand screw, but this arrangement may be. reversed. Theupper screw 16 is something more than twice the length of the lowerscrew 23, and the intermediate screw 22 is very much longer than saidlower screw. The reason for these differences inthreads and screws willa pear presently. The upper screw 16 is a trust screw, the next lowerscrew 22 is the nut actuating screw, and the lowest screw 23 I term thesafety screw.

en inwardly disposed the screw 23 engages an internally screw threadedbushing 24 incorporated with a fixed nut 25 which rises from the bottomof the base 7.- Below the screw 23 the spindle 14' is provided with acenter-piece, projection or stud 26 the di ameter of which is the sameas the small diameter of the screw-threads in the bushing 24. A chamber27 in the nut 25 is for the accommodation of the stud 26'.

At the inner end of the inlet 8 is a valveseat 28 for a Verticallymovable valve 29 which has a rubber ring 30 attached thereto by means ofa retaining ring 31 and nut 32. The ring 30 makes a ti ht joint with thevalve-seat when the va ve is closed. An arm 33 projects laterally fromthe back of the valve 29 near the top, The spindle 14 passes through anopening 34 in the arm 33 the diameter of which opening is considerablylarger than the" diameter of that por tion of said spindle whichoperates in and through said opening. Below the arm 33 and in threadedengagement with the screw 22 is an operating wedge nut 35' for the valve29. A spring 36 seated in a pocket 87 in the lower rear part of thevalve 29 and bearing path of travel of the nut 35.

at its upper end against that part of the nut 35 which is above tends toforce said valve downward as far as the arm 33 and said nut will permit.The nut 35 engages the valve 29 in such a way that said. nut cannotrotate. A wedge 38 springs from the side of the base 7 which is oppositethe outlet 8, on the in side, and extends into the lower part of theThere is also a wedge 39 on the back of the valve 29 between saidv'alve' and the nut- 35. In practice there are two wedges 39.

When the valve 29 is closed its rin 30 is forced hard against the valveseat 28 y the wedging action of the members 38 and 39 and the nut 35under the downward pressure of the spindle 14 and so held, in thecustomary manner.

To open the valve 29,- assuming that it be closed as shown in Figs; 1and 2, apply a Wrench to the nut 19 and rotate said nutand with it thespindle 14 to the right, when the latter rises in the bushings 15 and 24and at the same time raises the nut 35 by the screw 22. The nut 35 thuscarried upward by the spindle and with the spindle takes with it tievalve 29 and so opens the inlet 8,- such inlet being wide open by thetime the arm 33 contacts with the bottom of the coupling 21, furthermovement in this direction then being arrested. The parts now stand asvshow-n in Fig. 2 with the body 20 of the nut 19 above the top of thecap 12, and the screw23' out of the fixed nut 25, only the stud 26remaining insaid nut to center the spindle at the base and to preventdirt from fouling the screw-threads below and from gettingv into thechamber 27 and so 0bstruet mg the return of said spindle to its formerposition. The valve is again closed by rotating the spindle to the leftuntil all of the parts resume theirtormer' places.

It will be understood that, owing to the difference already notedbetween the screws 16 and 23 and the screw 22, the movement of the nut35 on the spindle is much greater at each revolution of said spindlethan is the movement of the spindle itself longitudinally, thereforewhile the spindle is moving a short distance vertically the valve 29moves through a considerable space relati-vel yi The scale on the body20 registers or indicates the position of the valve, because the totallength of said scale is the same as the maximum length of verticaltravel of the spindle and corresponds to the maximum length of verticaltravel of the valve, and the ratio between said travel of the spindleand said travel of the valve is always the same.

From the foregoing it is clear that any given mark of the scale, when inline with the top of the cap 12, must indicate correctly the position ofthe valve for example, sup-- pose the mark 3 be in line with such top ofthe cap, it is known at once that the valve is three-sixths of the wayor half open. This register is very convenient when it is not desired tolocate the valve in either of its extreme positions.- The scale may varyto meet different requirements, that is, it may be made finer or coarserand have more or less than the number of graduations shown.

The screw 16 takes the thrust of the spin dle 14 in place of the nutformerly employed for this purpose, but in the event that an accidenthappens to the hydrant which breaks the engagement of said screw withthe plate 13, while the valve 29 is closed, said spindle is preventedfrom rising and said valve from opening by reason of the engagement ofthe screw 23 with'the nut 25. The great value and utility of thisfeature of my invention was carefully pointed out in the introductorypart of this description, Excepting when the spindle is at the upper endof its travel or nearly at that point and the valve consequently wide 0en, the screw 23 is held by the nut 25, so tliere is always a strongbase check or look for said spindle which provides additional holdingmeans for said valve whether the latter be completely closed or partlyopen. Since the screw 23 is not required actively while the spindle isat the upper end of its travel, it need not be as long as t e screw 16which undernormal conditions is constantly in active service, and forthis reason the construction is such that said screw 23 leaves thebushing 24 when said s indle approaches the aforesaid upper end oftravel.

The bushings 16 and 24 really constitute parts of the plate 13 and thenut 25, respectively, and so far as this invention is concerned it wouldmake no diflerence if such bushings were omitted and the tapping weredone directly in the metal of which said plate and nut consist.

I make no claim for the valve er se with its wedging mechanism becauseam aware that the same is old in the art. I am aware, too, that variouskinds of screw spindles for operating valves have been employed before,but not in the same or a similar form as herein set forth.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

1. The combination, in a device of the class described, with a valve, ofa rotary reciprocating spindle therefor, means to cause said valve totravel a greater distance than said spindle longitudinally at eachrevolution of the latter, and a member on the spindle provided with ascale to denote the positions of both s indle and valve.

2. The combination, in a device of the class described, with a suitablecasing provided above with a plate adapted to serve as a bearing andguide for a spindle, and having below a fixed nut, and a valve providedwith spindle-engaging means, of a spindle tapped into said plate andalso tapped into said nut and having threaded engagement with saidspindle-engaging means, and an operating nut on the head of said spindlewhich protrudes through the top of said casing and has a scale thereonto indicate the position of the spindle and thus register the conditionof the valve.

3. The combination, in a device of the class described, with a suitablecasing provided above with a plate adapted to serve as a bearing andguide for a spindle, and having below a fixed nut, and a valve providedwith spindle engaging means, of a spindle tapped into said plate andalso tapped into said nut and having threaded engagement with saidspindle-engaging means, and provided with a bottom stud havingsubstantially the same diameter as the small diameter of thescrewthreads in the nut.

4. The combination, in a device of the class described, with a suitablecasing provided above with a plate adapted to serve as a bearing andguide for a spindle, and having below a fixed nut, a valve, and a valvenut, of a spindle having formed thereon a thrust screw to engage saidplate, a safety screw to engage said fixed nut, and an actuating screwfor said valve nut, the threads of said nut-actuating screw beingcoarser than those of the other screws.

GEORGE W. JOHNSTON.

Witnesses:

F. A. CUTTER, T. R. GEARY.

